Re: BUG #16939: Plural interval for negative singular

On Thu, Apr 29, 2021 at 09:00:04PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> OK, first, I never realized that saying -1 plural was valid.  Second,
> the two places you showed are actually using abs() properly since
> negative values are shown with an "ago" suffix, not a negative sign:
> 
> 	SET intervalstyle = postgres_verbose;
> 
> 	SELECT '2020-01-01 01:03:00'::timestamptz - '2020-01-01 02:02:01'::timestamptz;
> 	      ?column?
> 	---------------------
> 	 @ 59 mins 1 sec ago
> 	(1 row)
> 
> Attached is a patch which reverts 9ee7d533da and 5da9868ed9, and adds a
> comment about the "ago" usage.  The good news is that we were already
> consistent in using plural -1.  :-)

Here is a clearer example:

	SET intervalstyle = postgres_verbose;
	
	SELECT '2020-01-01 00:00:01'::timestamptz - '2020-01-01 00:00:00'::timestamptz;
	 ?column?
	----------
	 @ 1 sec
	
	SELECT '2020-01-01 00:00:00'::timestamptz - '2020-01-01 00:00:01'::timestamptz;
	  ?column?
	-------------
	 @ 1 sec ago
	
Patch applied.  Thanks for the research.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  If only the physical world exists, free will is an illusion.